Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.4, 2021

The Triple Truth of a Murder and the Many Possibilities of Reinventing the Genre: On Dong Xi’s Echoes

(Abstract)

Cong Zhichen

Dong Xi’s new novel Echoes is characterized by the genre of detective story, but its seemingly vulgar form does not alter its serious literary pursuits. What remains consistent in the novel is the contemplation of the human condition and the spiritual situation in a complex social structure, which is a literary theme that has long been a concern of Dong Xi. The deep exploration of the characters’ psychology has given the novel a “purely literary” quality, free from the patterned writing of popular literature; and the broad and rich social picture hidden behind the elaborate cases makes this work go beyond the concept of “pure literature.” The novel is not only a personal transcendence of Dong Xi, but also offers new possibilities for Chinese literature today.